These foreclosure firm employees in Halloween costumes of people who were foreclosed upon

If you are looking for classic examples of sociopaths, look no further. From NY Times:

On Friday, the law firm of Steven J. Baum threw a Halloween party. The firm, which is located near Buffalo, is what is commonly referred to as a “foreclosure mill” firm, meaning it represents banks and mortgage servicers as they attempt to foreclose on homeowners and evict them from their homes. Steven J. Baum is, in fact, the largest such firm in New York; it represents virtually all the giant mortgage lenders, including Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo.

The party is the firm’s big annual bash. Employees wear Halloween costumes to the office, where they party until around noon, and then return to work, still in costume. I can’t tell you how people dressed for this year’s party, but I can tell you about last year’s.

That’s because a former employee of Steven J. Baum recently sent me snapshots of last year’s party. In an e-mail, she said that she wanted me to see them because they showed an appalling lack of compassion toward the homeowners — invariably poor and down on their luck — that the Baum firm had brought foreclosure proceedings against.

When we spoke later, she added that the snapshots are an accurate representation of the firm’s mind-set. (full article)

Here is one ambulance chaser riling against other ambulance chasers. The data she is quoting is appalling and true!

Related posts:

1. Poetic Justice: Even Today Good Journalism Matters
2. Robo-signers: Mortgage Experience not Necessary (Yahoo)
3. Savers, Stop Whining! (No, This is Not a Joke)

Mohan’s Note: This podcast is sponsored by Audible.com®, a leading provider of spoken audio information and entertainment. Listen to audiobooks whenever and wherever you want. Please visit the sponsor site for a free audiobook and a free 14-day trial.
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Apple అధినేత Steve Jobs అనారోగ్య కారణాల వల్ల పదవీ విరమణ చేస్తున్న సందర్భంలో జాబ్స్ ను అభినందిస్తూ నేను వ్రాసిన వ్యాసం (ఇక్కడ) మీరు చదివే ఉంటారు. August 29వ  తారీఖున మోహన మురళీ గానలహరి కార్యక్రమంలో నేను భాను ప్రకాష్ గారితో జరిపిన సంభాషణ ఇది. ఇందులో, మేము జాబ్స్ నాయకత్వ లక్షణాలు, సాధించిన విజయాలు, అతని పై వచ్చిన విమర్శల గురించి మాట్లాడాము. స్పూర్తికోసం మీరు తప్పక వినవలసిన podcast ఇది.

Please note that the attached audio is mostly in Telugu.
Audio Language: Telugu
Date of Broadcast: Aug 29, 2011

Watch his inspirational speech to the graduating students at Stanford University Commencement in 2005.

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Very few people command respect just for their vision, innovation, leadership, courage, charisma -- and most importantly what they have accomplished. To me Steve Jobs is one such person. This true visionary, great innovator, inspirational leader and man who made a big difference in the lives of millions of people -- is stepping down as CEO of Apple due to health reasons. Hats off, sir! You deserve a standing ovation! We know that you are blessed with so many positives, but cursed with ill health. Regardless, we wish you the best life has to offer.

When you listen to him, when you read about him you will see a philosopher. He may be a college dropout, but he has a university within himself. He proved that formal education is not needed for a true genius. In the years to come, top B schools will develop numerous case studies from his accomplishments to incorporate into their MBA curricula. An inspirational commencement speech by him. This is a must, must, must watch. (When I watched it, I was filled with inexplicable excitement.)

Numerous ‘motivational’ speakers and speaker wannabes (myself included) will sing his praise to motivate people. Let me start by listing some of his quotes:

“We’ve never worried about numbers. In the market place, Apple is trying to focus the spotlight on products, because products really make a difference. [...] Ad campaigns are necessary for competition; IBM’s ads are everywhere. But good PR educates people; that’s all it is. You can’t con people in this business. The products speak for themselves.”
-- Playboy interview, 1985

“That’s been one of my mantras — focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”
-- BusinessWeek interview, May 1998

“The most compelling reason for most people to buy a computer for the home will be to link it into a nationwide communications network. We’re just in the beginning stages of what will be a truly remarkable breakthrough for most people--as remarkable as the telephone.”
-- Playboy interview, 1985

“We’ve kept our marriage secret for over a decade.”
-- Jobs’ answer to Kara Swisher asking about the “greatest misunderstanding” in Jobs’ relationship with Bill Gates. (May 2007)

“It’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”
-- BusinessWeek interview, May 1998

“Picasso had a saying: ‘Good artists copy, great artists steal.’ We have always been shameless about stealing great ideas…I think part of what made the Macintosh great was that the people working on it were musicians, poets, artists, zoologists and historians who also happened to be the best computer scientists in the world.”
-- 1994

“[Y]ou can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”
-- Stanford University commencement address, June 2005.

“My sex life is pretty good these days, Walt. How’s yours?”
-- Jobs’s response to a question from Walt Mossberg about how Jobs feels about Google and if he feels “betrayed.” (June, 2010)

(Jobs also added, “Well they decided to compete with us. We didn’t go into the search business.”)

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure -- these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. … Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”
-- Stanford University commencement address, June 2005.

“I read a study that measured the efficiency of locomotion for various species on the planet. The condor used the least energy to move a kilometer. Humans came in with a rather unimpressive showing about a third of the way down the list….That didn’t look so good, but then someone at Scientific American had the insight to test the efficiency of locomotion for a man on a bicycle and a man on a bicycle blew the condor away.

That’s what a computer is to me: the computer is the most remarkable tool that we’ve ever come up with. It’s the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds.”

-- Interview for the documentary “Memory and Imagination,” 1990

“My model for business is The Beatles. They were four guys who kept each other’s kind of negative tendencies in check. They balanced each other and the total was greater than the sum of the parts. That’s how I see business: great things in business are never done by one person, they’re done by a team of people.”
-- Interview with 60 Minutes, 2003

To see Steve Jobs’ life in pictures click here.

Related posts:

1. R.I.P. Steve Jobs: 1955-2011
2. Steve Jobs Last pictures taken before his death
3. Jobs and Gates on Stage at 1983 Mac Dating Game

Look friends, I am no defender of welfare. By all means those able bodied who depend 100% on government welfare throughout their lives are parasites. But I can understand people falling on hard times getting a lift from the government as they try to get on their feet. There is nothing wrong if the underemployed surviving on paltry pay checks supplementing their pay with some social programs. It is a folly to assume that they will always stay that way. After all, 8 million jobs were lost since 2007. If you take an average household size of 2.5, that translates to 20 million people. Guess how many people were added to the food stamps roster since 2007. About 20 million. In the mean time, the real parasites in the banking sector and Wall Street not only faced no consequences for the economic calamity they caused, but also got to get give themselves bonuses over $200 bil in 2009 and 2010.

Jon did one of his best pieces last night on “class warfare.” Here are some quote nuggets from the video.

• “It is all out war on the productive class in our society for the benefit of moocher class”
• “the makers and the takers”
• “parasites”
• “racoons”

Huh! Not all $14T debt on the backs of 300 million people, was spent on public welfare! It was also spent on corporate welfare: military industrial complex, corporate bailouts, and tax breaks to companies that paid no taxes. The so called “productive class” got to be “productive” on the backs of the middle class. when you push nearly 20 million middle class people into welfare you have further widened the income gap. When you keep calling the middle class with pride with such names as “parasites” and rile against the only means of making ends meet, you are risking a revolution. As I said before, the only thing that stands as a buffer between the real leeches in the society and angry mobs with pitch-forks and torches, it is their food-stamps. There comes a point where swallowing the pride difficult for the middle class turned poor, the revolution is inevitable. If you don’t believe me, look up what happened in the 18th century French Revolution.
————- Part 1 ————

————- Part 2 ————

.
*** Update: These two videos are the most popular segments of TDS for the week and sure are destined to be some of the most popular segments by Jon. ****

Related posts:

1. Jon Stewart Goes at the Republican Rhetoric: “Class Warfare on Job Creators”
2. SixGun’s Class Warfare – Fascinating, Simply Fascinating
3. World Class School by Ex ITTians in Bihar

This is the paper cover on the hard-bound Geetha Chandrika, a Telugu translation of Bhagavadgita. GeethaChandrika is unique in the world of Bhagavadgita translations in the sense that each of the Sankrit verses in Geetha was translated into Telugu kanda padyas. కందం వ్రాసినవాడే కవి… (Only the one who writes in kanda is the real poet…) గీతను కందం లో అందంగా వ్రాసినందుకే ఆయనను “గీతా కవిశేఖరుడు” అన్నారు.

In due course, I will make entire GeethaaChandrika available for download. In the mean time, please do take a listen to this audio bit in which you will first hear a few Sanksrit slokas and their meaning performed by the Maestro Ghantasala. It is then followed by my father’s rendering of his own kanda padya translation to the same Sanskrit verse.

On a personal note on this Fathers Day..

“You are almost a responsible adult now. I don’t like to tell you what is right. Act responsible and do the right thing.” This is what my father wrote and sent to me on the back of a memo from my college principal in which the principal warned my father of severe consequences for my skipping classes. That note from my father served me well back then as his son, just as well as it served me as a father now.

Happy Fathers Day

Related posts:

1. Why the name Sundara Kanda
2. Sri Medasani Mohan on Mohana Muralee GaanaLahari 2 of 2
3. Devil Reciting Bible Verses

Geethaakavisekhara Venigalla Purnachandra Rao

“గీతా కవిశేఖర” వెనిగళ్ళ పూర్ణచంద్ర రావు
జననము: 18-08-1935
మరణము: 18-07-1982
తల్లిదండ్రులు: వెనిగళ్ళ తులసమ్మ, వెనిగళ్ళ నారాయణ
జన్మభూమి: దోనేపూడి, తెనాలి తాలూకా, గుంటూరు జిల్లా, ఆంధ్రప్రదేశ్
విద్యాభ్యాసము:

వృత్తిలో ప్రవేశము: 22-08-1952, Lower Division Clerk (LDC), స్థానికోన్నత పాఠశాల, కొల్లూరు
చివరి వృత్తి: Block Development Officer, (BDO) మాచర్ల పంచాయతి సమితి
రచనలు:

సన్మానములు: నెల్లూరు, రేపల్లె, పెదపులివర్రు, వెనిగళ్ళవారి పాలెం మున్నగు చోట్ల
అర్ధాంగి లక్ష్మి: ధనలక్ష్మి
సంతతి: వెంకటరమణ, మోహన మురళీధర్, జ్యోత్స్న
కోడళ్ళు: సత్యశ్రీ, శిరీష
అల్లుడు: నూతక్కి వెంకటరత్నం
మనవరాళ్ళు, మనుమలు: ధనలక్ష్మి, చంద్రదీప్తి, మృదుల, కీర్తి, ఈశ్వర్, చంద్రకాంత్
స్వగృహము: 6 వ వార్డు, రేపల్లె, గుంటూరు జిల్లా

Late Sri Venigalla Purnachandra Rao, late Smt. Venigalla Dhana Lakshmi

సీరియస్ గా అనిపిస్తున్న ఆయన ముఖం వెనక వున్న మేధ సామాన్యమైనది కాదు. ఇప్పటికీ ఆయనను తెలిసినవారు అంటుంటారు -- మహా మేధావి అని. ఆయనకు తొమ్మిదేళ్ళ వయసులో పోలియోతో ఒకటిన్నర కాళ్ళు చచ్చుబడిపోయాయి. తాత, నాయనమ్మలు SSLC తర్వాత చదువుకు ప్రోత్సహించలేదు. అవిటితనం ఆయన పట్టుదలను, దీక్షను సడలించలేదు. 1961 లో స్వయంకృషి తో BA English literature పూర్తి చేయగలిగారు (అవును, అప్పట్లో అది సామాన్యమైన విషయం కాదు) 36 సంవత్సరాల వయసులో మధుర స్వప్నం, 38 సంవత్సరాల వయసులో గీతానువాదం పూర్తి చేసారు. నాన్నగారు రచించిన గ్రంధాలు వెలుగుకు నోచుకోలేదు. ఆయన రచనలు వెలుగులోకి తీసుకురావడం తనయుడిగా నా విద్యుద్ధర్మంగా భావిస్తున్నాను. అందుకే త్వరలోనే నాన్నగారి శ్రీమద్ భగవద్గీతాంధ్ర పద్యానువాదం -- గీతాచంద్రిక ను ఈ  వేదిక ద్వారా మీకు పరిచయం చేస్తాను.

Happy Fathers Day

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1. Meet the TORi Team
2. Mohan Venigalla and Michael Krimmer on Career Planning and Job Interviews 1 of 2
3. Mohan Venigalla and Michael Krimmer on Career Planning and Job Interviews 2 of 2

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1. MMGL Interview with Akella Raghavendra on Sobhan Babu 3 of 3
2. MMGL Interview with Akella Raghavendra on Sobhan Babu 2 of 3
3. MMGL Interview with Akella Raghavendra on Sobhan Babu 1 of 3

Side-impact accidents are often deadly

The Indian community in the US and around the world is shocked by the untimely death of four Indian students at University of Missouri, Rolla.

Sunday morning, a group of five headed to the Lake of the Ozarks to do some shopping, maybe even for some of their family back home.  “One of the students was actually planning to go visit his family in India on Tuesday,” says Venkat Allada, Vice Provost for Graduate Studies at Missouri S&T.

Heading west on Highway 42 in Miller County just after 10:30 Sunday morning, the car crossed the center line and was hit broadside by a pickup.

Friends soon learned the driver, 22 year old Murali Bottu, was critically injured.  But they heard no news about the rest.  “We just thought the most serious guy would be taken care of first.  So the thing we had in mind was, ok, these guys had small injuries, and probably they’re in nearby hospitals.  We had hope,” says Gandikota.

Four or five hours later, they learned four of their friends were killed.  “It’s been pretty hard on all of us,” says Gandikota.

24 year old Srupen Reddy Velumula, 22 year old Sri Harsha Chitturi, 21 year old Srikanth Ravi, and 23 year old Dheeraj Gudlawar were all pronounced dead at the scene.

[Full article from ky3 here]

How do we deal with such tragic news? Personally, I deal with it by pretending nothing has happened and not think about it. I know it is not right -- but it served me reasonably well.

Suicides by the Young

This is another unfortunate reality. Suicide is the third-leading cause of death for 15- to 24-year-olds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), surpassed only by accidents and homicide. I am in the academic world where we often hear about students committing suicide. Whether we know the student personally or not, all of use get distraught when such sad news hits home. Once such incident happened recently at GMU, where I teach.

Nathaniel Bresler, an UNH Student who committed suicide

Shortly after midnight on Tuesday, March 1, a University of New Hampshire sophomore, 20-year-old Nathaniel Bresler, committed suicide by lying down in front of an oncoming train.

Bresler, of Bow, N.H., transferred to UNH from George Mason University in Virginia this semester as a political science major.

At 12:15 a.m., Bresler’s Facebook status was updated from a blackberry phone to read, “I’m sorry everyone. please forgive me.”At approximately 12:22 a.m. Tuesday, Amtrak officials notified the Durham Police Department that an eastbound train struck a person on the railroad tracks about 50 feet from the Bennett Road Overpass in Durham, Durham Deputy Police Chief Rene Kelley said in a statement Tuesday.

[Full article here]

What prompted me to write this sad note today is an e-mail I got from the IIT-M alumni mailer, which alerted me to a  recent bout of suicides at IIT-M.

May 9, 2011

On Wednesday afternoon, Nitin Kumar Reddy, a final year mechanical engineering student from IIT, Madras committed suicide.

Nitin left a Facebook message on the wall that read: “I fought hard but lost.”

There is more to that final post than what meets the eye. It is not just Nitin.

In the past five months three students from the same institution (including V. Anoop from the same department) have ended their life. Faculty members and officials say that such incidents cannot be attributed to academic pressure alone, but call for immediate attention.

“This is a complex issue that needs to be addressed. No one can say it’s because of academic pressure. There could be several reasons,” says M. Govardhan, dean (students) at IIT-M.

[Full article here]

Three suicides in five months at my alma matter! That is too much. The news reminded me of an incident that happened about 25 years ago. Back in the mid 1980s, IIT-M decided to put ceiling fans in each of the hostel (dorm) rooms. They were installing them one hostel at a time and our (Tapati) turn wouldn’t come for another year or so. I paid a maintenance worker to install a hook and then brought my own fan. A couple of years or so after I left, I was told that a student who occupied that room has hung himself to the very same hook I got installed. It was eerie.

What is an administration to do? The following is from the e-mail I got this morning via IIT-M Alumni network.

The unfortunate suicide of Nitin Kumar Reddy on 4thMay has upset all of us in IIT Madras….

This unfortunate incident of the suicide happened too suddenly for the system to react constructively. It is extremely unusual for a final year student with many friends on campus to take such precipitate action. All the faculty concerned with student activities headed by the Dean have already begun discussions with students in an effort to come to terms with this unfortunate occurrence and to find ways  by which such cases can be better monitored and dealt with by the system.

-Director, IIT-Chennai

As a faculty at a major US university, I can say with confidence that there is support network in place to prevent such tragic events. But, the real work has to be done at home. As a parent, all I can say about such news is that there is nothing in this world more tragic to any person than knowing his/her offspring died at such an young age. I hope the families of these youth gather courage to deal with such reality. For the rest of us, it won’t hurt to educate ourselves more about this issue.

Factors that increase the risk of suicide among teens include:

• a psychological disorder, especially depression, bipolar disorder, and alcohol and drug use (in fact, approximately 95% of people who die by suicide have a psychological disorder at the time of death)
• feelings of distress, irritability, or agitation
• feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness that often accompany depression (a teen, for example, who experiences repeated failures at school, who is overwhelmed by violence at home, or who is isolated from peers is likely to experience such feelings)
• a previous suicide attempt
• a family history of depression or suicide (depressive illnesses may have a genetic component, so some teens may be predisposed to suffer major depression)
• physical or sexual abuse
• lack of a support network, poor relationships with parents or peers, and feelings of social isolation
• dealing with homosexuality in an unsupportive family or community or hostile school environment

Warning Signs

Suicide among teens often occurs following a stressful life event, such as a perceived failure at school, a breakup with a boyfriend or girlfriend, the death of a loved one, a divorce, or a major family conflict.

A teen who is thinking about suicide might:

• talk about suicide or death in general
• talk about “going away”
• talk about feeling hopeless or feeling guilty
• pull away from friends or family
• lose the desire to take part in favorite things or activities
• have trouble concentrating or thinking clearly
• experience changes in eating or sleeping habits
• self-destructive behavior (drinking alcohol, taking drugs, or driving too fast, for example)

[Full article here]

If parents are constantly fighting between themselves, or worse, heading for a divorce -- it is likely that the teens blame it on themselves and consider suicide. It is suspected that one of the reasons for the recent suicide of the former GMU student (mentioned above) was that his parents recently got separated.

Related posts:

1. Shocking Statement by IIT-M Dean: Death of 3 Students “Statistically not Important!”
2. Universities of Fraud: The Student Loan Abusers
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In his biographic book titled “Parugu Aapadam oka Kala,” Mr. Akella Raghavendra sheds light on the mystique called Sobhan Babu. I tried to probe Raghavendra garu on the motivation to write the book, the central theme, and the very writing style of the author.

This interesting interview sheds light on Sobhan Babu’s very principled life.

Interview Date: March 2011

Audio Language: Telugu

This is part 3 of 3: (Callers)

Related posts:

1. MMGL Interview with Akella Raghavendra on Sobhan Babu 2 of 3
2. MMGL Interview with Akella Raghavendra on Sobhan Babu 1 of 3
3. A Memorial for Sobhan Babu in Chennai

చనిపోయి 29 సంవత్సరాలైనా, ఇప్పటికీ ఎంతో మంది ఆప్యాయంగా ధనమ్మ అని పిలుచుకొనే ఈదేవత మా అమ్మ. -Mohan

అమ్మ మీద వ్యాసం వ్రాద్దామనిపించింది. మెదలుపెట్టాక తెలిసింది వ్యాసం కాదది గ్రంధం అవుతుందని. చదివే ఓపిక మీకు ఉండదని. అందుకే -మూడే మూడు వాక్యాలు.
1977 (దివిసీమ) తుఫానులో ఇళ్ళు కూలిపోయిన వందలాది ఇరుగు పొరుగులకు ఎంతో శ్రమకోర్చి మాఇంట్లో ఆశ్రయం ఇచ్చి వారి కుటుంబాలను కాపాడిన దేవత/hero మా అమ్మ.  చిన్నప్పుడు బడికి వెళ్లేముందు అమ్మ నా గడ్డం ఎడమ చేత్తో పట్టుకొని కుడిచేత్తో పాపిట తీసి దువ్వుతున్నప్పుడు అమ్మను ఆలింగనం చేసుకున్న మధుర క్షణాలు ఎప్పుడూ మరువను. కాని, ఊహ తెలియని పసిపాపగా ఆడి, ఆడి, అలసి, సొలసి, అమ్మవడిలో నిశ్చింతగా నిదురపోయిన జ్ఞాపకాల జాడ లేదు. ఆ జ్ఞాపకాలు నాకు కావాలి! అందుకు నేనేమి చేయాలి?
Happy Mother’s Day!

దేవతలంతా ఒకవైపు -
అమ్మ ఒక వైపు -
ఎవరు కావాలంటే,
మొగ్గేను అమ్మవైపు!

-DR C. నారాయణ రెడ్డి

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Based on an email forward

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“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company… a church… a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past… we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you… we are in charge of our Attitudes.”

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Naga Naresh Karutura has just passed out of IIT Madras in Computer Science and has joined Google in Bangalore.  You may ask, what’s so special about this 21-year-old when there are hundreds of students passing from various IITs and joining big companies like Google?

Naresh is special. His parents are illiterate. He has no legs and moves around in his powered wheel chair.
Ever smiling, optimistic and full of spirit; that is Naresh. He says, “God has always been planning things for me. That is why I feel I am lucky.”  Read why Naresh feels he is lucky.

Childhood in a village

I spent the first seven years of my life in Teeparru, a small village in Andhra Pradesh, on the banks of the river Godavari . My father Prasad was a lorry driver and my mother Kumari, a house wife. Though they were illiterate, my parents instilled in me and my elder sister (Sirisha) the importance of studying.

Looking back, one thing that surprises me now is the way my father taught me when I was in the 1st and 2nd standards. My father would ask me questions from the text book, and I would answer them. At that time, I didn’t know he could not read or write but to make me happy, he helped me in my studies!
Another memory that doesn’t go away is the floods in the village and how I was carried on top of a buffalo by my uncle. I also remember plucking fruits from a tree that was full of thorns.

I used to be very naughty, running around and playing all the time with my friends.. I used to get a lot of scolding for disturbing the elders who slept in the afternoon. The moment they started scolding, I would run away to the fields!

I also remember finishing my school work fast in class and sleeping on the teacher’s lap!

January 11, 1993, the fateful day

On the January 11, 1993 when we had the sankranti holidays, my mother took my sister and me to a nearby village for a family function. From there we were to go with our grandmother to our native place. But my grandmother did not come there. As there were no buses that day, my mother took a lift in my father’s friend’s lorry. As there were many people in the lorry, he made me sit next to him, close to the door.

It was my fault; I fiddled with the door latch and it opened wide throwing me out. As I fell, my legs got cut by the iron rods protruding from the lorry. Nothing happened to me except scratches on my legs.

The accident had happened just in front of a big private hospital but they refused to treat me saying it was an accident case. Then a police constable who was passing by took us to a government hospital.

First I underwent an operation as my small intestine got twisted. The doctors also bandaged my legs. I was there for a week. When the doctors found that gangrene had developed and it had reached up to my knees, they asked my father to take me to a district hospital. There, the doctors scolded my parents a lot for neglecting the wounds and allowing the gangrene to develop. But what could my ignorant parents do?

In no time, both my legs were amputated up to the hips.

I remember waking up and asking my mother, where are my legs? I also remember that my mother cried when I asked the question. I was in the hospital for three months.

Life without legs

I don’t think my life changed dramatically after I lost both my legs. Because all at home were doting on me, I was enjoying all the attention rather than pitying myself. I was happy that I got a lot of fruits and biscuits.

‘I never wallowed in self-pity’

The day I reached my village, my house was flooded with curious people; all of them wanted to know how a boy without legs looked. But I was not bothered; I was happy to see so many of them coming to see me, especially my friends!

All my friends saw to it that I was part of all the games they played; they carried me everywhere.
God’s hand. I believe in God. I believe in destiny. I feel he plans everything for you. If not for the accident, we would not have moved from the village to Tanuku, a town. There I joined a missionary school, and my father built a house next to the school. Till the tenth standard, I studied in that school.

If I had continued in Teeparu, I may not have studied after the 10th. I may have started working as a farmer or someone like that after my studies. I am sure God had other plans for me.
My sister, my friend

When the school was about to reopen, my parents moved from Teeparu to Tanuku, a town, and admitted both of us in a Missionary school. They decided to put my sister also in the same class though she is two years older. They thought she could take care of me if both of us were in the same class. My sister never complained.

She would be there for everything. Many of my friends used to tell me, you are so lucky to have such a loving sister. There are many who do not care for their siblings.

She carried me in the school for a few years and after a while, my friends took over the task. When I got the tricycle, my sister used to push me around in the school.

My life, I would say, was normal, as everyone treated me like a normal kid. I never wallowed in self-pity. I was a happy boy and competed with others to be on top and the others also looked at me as a competitor.
Inspiration

I was inspired by two people when in school; my Maths teacher Pramod Lal who encouraged me to participate in various local talent tests, and a brilliant boy called Chowdhary, who was my senior.

When I came to know that he had joined Gowtham Junior College to prepare for IIT-JEE, it became my dream too. I was school first in 10th scoring 542/600.

Because I topped in the state exams, Gowtham Junior College waived the fee for me. Pramod Sir’s recommendation also helped. The fee was around Rs 50,000 per year, which my parents could never afford.
Moving to a residential school

Living in a residential school was a big change for me because till then my life centred around home and school and I had my parents and sister to take care of all my needs. It was the first time that I was interacting with society. It took one year for me to adjust to the new life.

There, my inspiration was a boy called K K S Bhaskar who was in the top 10 in IIT-JEE exams. He used to come to our school to encourage us. Though my parents didn’t know anything about Gowtham Junior School or IIT, they always saw to it that I was encouraged in whatever I wanted to do.. If the results were good, they would praise me to the skies and if bad, they would try to see something good in that. They did not want me to feel bad.  They are such wonderful supportive parents.

Life at IIT- Madras

Though my overall rank in the IIT-JEE was not that great (992), I was 4th in the physically handicapped category. So, I joined IIT, Madras to study Computer Science.

Here, my role model was Karthik who was also my senior in school. I looked up to him during my years at IIT- Madras.   He had asked for attached bathrooms for those with special needs before I came here itself. So, when I came here, the room had attached bath. He used to help me and guide me a lot when I was here.

I evolved as a person in these four years, both academically and personally. It has been a great experience studying here. The people I was interacting with were so brilliant that I felt privileged to sit along with them in the class. Just by speaking to my lab mates, I gained a lot..
‘There are more good people in society than bad ones’

July 28, 2008

Words are inadequate to express my gratitude to Prof Pandurangan and all my lab mates; all were simply great. I was sent to Boston along with four others for our internship by Prof Pandurangan. It was a great experience.

Joining Google R&D

I did not want to pursue PhD as I wanted my parents to take rest now.  Morgan Stanley selected me first but I preferred Google because I wanted to work in pure computer science, algorithms and game theory.
I am lucky. Do you know why I say I am lucky?

I get help from total strangers without me asking for it. Once after my second year at IIT, I with some of my friends was travelling in a train for a conference. We met a kind gentleman called Sundar in the train, and he has been taking care of my hostel fees from then on.

I have to mention about Jaipur foot. I had Jaipur foot when I was in 3rd standard. After two years, I stopped using them. As I had almost no stems on my legs, it was very tough to tie them to the body. I found walking with Jaipur foot very, very slow. Sitting also was a problem. I found my tricycle faster because I am one guy who wants to do things faster.

One great thing about the hospital is, they don’t think their role ends by just fixing the Jaipur foot; they arrange for livelihood for all. They asked me what help I needed from them. I told them at that time, if I got into an IIT, I needed financial help from them. So, from the day I joined IIT, Madras , my fees were taken care of by them. So, my education at the IIT was never a burden on my parents and they could take care of my sister’s Nursing studies.

Surprise awaited me at IIT

After my first year, when I went home, two things happened here at the Institute without my knowledge.
I got a letter from my department that they had arranged a lift and ramps at the department for me. It also said that if I came a bit early and checked whether it met with my requirements, it would be good.

Second surprise was, the Dean, Prof Idichandy and the Students General Secretary, Prasad had located a place that sold powered wheel chairs. The cost was Rs 55,000. What they did was, they did not buy the wheel chair; they gave me the money so that the wheel chair belonged to me and not the institute.

My life changed after that. I felt free and independent.  That’s why I say I am lucky. God has planned things for me and takes care of me at every step.

The world is full of good people.

I also feel if you are motivated and show some initiative, people around you will always help you. I also feel there are more good people in society than bad ones. I want all those who read this to feel that if Naresh can achieve something in life, you can too

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